Expression: Put the FUN in Fluency!

Put the FUN in FlUeNcy!

In this post I will talk about Expression.  Fluency has many components that can be overlooked and misused.  With the world going assessment crazy in the past years, I believe some of the most important components are overlooked as a way of simplifying and expediting the assessment process. In this post I will talk about one of those components: Expression.  Expression, to me, is one of the most fun parts of fluency.  So let your creative juices flow while you read on. Years ago I learned a super fun word -prosody. 

So many literacy gurus speak of it when discussing fluency and oral reading.  In Jennifer Serravallo's book The Reading Strategies Book she includes many strategies for teaching prosody to all stages of readers. She begins in the early stages of reading introducing several fluency building strategies to pre-emergent/emergent (beginning readers).

Here's her book:

You can grab your copy here.

The Reading Strategies Book on Amazon

OR

The Reading Strategies Book from Heinemann

Examples of her Pre-Emergent Fluency Strategies:

1.8= Express the Emotions

(I created an anchor chart/lesson to go along with each strategy.  Here are some examples of them.)

1.13= Talk Like the Character

(I'm working on putting these in my TpT store:)

Teaching children early on about using expression while reading can help defend against the fluency struggle.  This coupled with systematic teaching of decoding strategies and exposure to multiple forms of literature will give children a solid fluency foundation.

Teaching expressive reading can be a blast!  I recommend presenting and practicing it in a variety of ways.  I've come up with a few to share with you today.  Hopefully seeing them and hearing about them will spark some creative juices in you this summer to start planning new and fun ways to practice fluency with your students next school year.

1.  Green Screen

This is my favorite!  What better way to teach prosody/expression/fluent reading than to be on stage? I've found that my students perform so much better when they are on camera. What a FUN way to cover those Speaking & Listening standards too!

Here are some links to some green screen/fluency products I have created: 

Step-By-Step Green Screen Tutorial for iMovie

Green Screen Planning Pages

DoInk Green Screen App Tutorial

How To Use a Green Screen in Your Classroom

Super Fluent Me Packet

Fluency Building Poetry Presentations

Here's an example of one we did during Dr. Seuss week. (Click on the links to view the videos. It works better this way for my mobile device viewers:)

Green Eggs and Ham: A Fluency Reading

Here's an example of one we did combining fluency and visualization.

Owl Moon Visualization

2.  Use a stage and props!

Here's one we did with joke telling.

Fluency Practice with Jokes!

3.  Use Apps!

4.  Video Record Students Reading Books for Younger Students and Listening Centers!

My students LOVE to set up the camera and video record themselves reading a book for use in a listening center.  This way if the students viewing do not have a copy of the book, they can still view the pictures!  It's a fantastic way to practice using correct expression like a seasoned reader.  The best part...if you mess up...start over!

5.  Poetry Party

This is one that my students created.  Students would choose a poem, practice it, and bring it to the "party."  The party simply consisted of all students sitting in a circle on the floor holding their poems.  They would take turns going into the center with their poem and reading it aloud.  They all would snap their approval and continue until all who were ready to share where finished sharing. They loved it!  We found that doing this after lunch was a great way to get back into our classroom/working mode!  Change it up.  Make it yours.  Like I said, my students created this all by themselves. Why not incorporate that stage here too?  Maybe you have a runway to get you there?  Make it fun!

These are my top 5 ways to practice using expression while reading.  They are fun, hold students accountable, and promote the FUN in FlUeNcy!

Start collecting props, poems, apps, and background images this summer!  Plan out some fun lessons and activities you can use in your classroom next year.  Give it a whirl and let me know how it goes! 

If you are looking for a fun way to bring the Super into Super Fluent Readers check out this item below:

My next post will dig a little deeper into another important area of fluency.  Until then enjoy your summer!

Until the next post...

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Stop Sending the Wrong Message About Fluency!

The number one assessed literacy skill is fluency.  Fluency is an extremely important determinant in reading success for young readers BUT are we looking at fluency as a whole...or...just as a number???

Take a moment...ask your students or any child for that matter what fluent reading means.  The most common response I was hearing to that question was, "It means you read fast."  WHAT?  Did I teach them that?  Upon reflection I realized that I (well our entire building) had.  Afterall, how did most students know me?  I was the lady (aka Title I teacher/RTI Coordinator) that came around and listened to all students read, and guess what I carried with me?  A timer.  Duh!  What message was I sending?  Not hard to figure out.

A more desirable answer to the question, "What does fluent reading mean?" should be, "To read at a pace that allows me to understand what I'm reading", or "To read in a way that shows I'm understanding what I'm reading," or maybe this one, "To read with expression that fits the passage." NEVER should it be simply to read fast.  Although speed is important, there is so much more to it. After you sit and listen to over 250 students three times a year read like they are on a reading race and their life depends upon it, you start to rethink the assessments you give or at least the way you explain the purpose of the assessment.

We have since changed the way we assess fluency in our building for this very reason.  We prefer to use a "time up" method instead of a "time down" one.  So don't throw away your kitchen timers yet! Just eliminate that awful "BEEP!"

Is reading speed important?  Yes, but it is not the only part of fluency that makes a competent and independent reader.  Continue to time (silently) and calculate, but for heaven's sake please do not turn reading into a speed drill unless rate is your main goal.  There is a time and a place to do this kind of practice.  That is another story that we can dig into later...

Here's an easy formula to use with any passage to calculate WPM (words read per minute):

# or words in the passage divided by seconds read X 60=___WPM

Side note:  Since changing to the "time up" system of assessing students with our universal screener, we have not had a decrease in rate.  Fancy that.

So you might be thinking...What assessment tools do we use and how do we score/record it?

We starting using a modified version of the DIBELS 6th Edition found here:
Dibels 6th Edition Assessment

Our version was modified to include a comprehension component and an oral reading accuracy score. Each student answers 2 questions about the passage upon reading completion.  A rubric is used to score the passage.

This is an example of what our assessment ended up looking like. (Assessor's Copy)

The Dibels passages provided us with a leveled passage for each benchmarking period, but we needed more in order to give a more clear snapshot into our students as whole readers, so some additional items were added. It's not perfect by any means, but we keep in mind it is just a universal screener.  If we see any concerns we do a more extensive assessment using the DRA2 assessment.

Ok...so we stopped using a loud beeping timer, we added a few comprehension questions to check for understanding, and we added in an oral reading accuracy score, what else?  How do you help your young readers to see reading as more than a number?  Well it comes through use of the word fluency in conjunction with these words...
Expression...Accuracy...Phrasing...Prosody...Sound like a reader...and so much more!

Add in some FUN with...
A GREEN SCREEN-VIDEO RECORDINGS-PLAYS-READERS' THEATER PERFORMANCES-COSTUMES-IPAD APPS-AUDIO RECORDINGS-READING BUDDIES-VOIKI CREATIONS-HOW TO PROJECTS-COMMERCIALS-EXPRESSION GAMES-INTERVIEWS-POETRY-RIDDLES-JOKES-USE A STAGE-PROPS-SONGS-DRAMATIC READINGS

And the list goes on and on....the possibilities are endless!  In my next post, I will cover some ways to add these and more ideas to practice the most fun component of fluency...EXPRESSION!

Note:  This year I implemented a program I created called Super Fluent Me!  My kids were loving using video, audio, and green screen recordings to practice their reading/writing fluency but some students were feeling a little shy about getting up there at first.  So I created this program complete with t-shirts, a mask, and a cape.  For some reason it helped break the ice and clear away those "on stage" jitters.  You can check it out here:

Super Fluent Me Packet

Here's an example of a Dr. Seuss Poetry Reading we did in March using this unit!

Green Eggs & Ham: A Poetry Reading

Until the next post...

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Summer Reading Challenge

Have you heard of the summer slide?  I wish I was talking about the intriguing piece of equipment on every dream playground but unfortunately, I'm not.  The summer slide is a term used by reading researchers to describe the decline in reading ability for young readers due to a decrease in reading over the summer.  Here is an excerpt of an article explaining the summer slide.

Educators and researchers have long recognized what has come to be known as the “summer slide,” the loss of learning that can take place during the summer months if students do not engage in educational activities. Experts say much of the reading achievement gap seen in 9th grade students nationwide can be traced back to unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years. Reversing the summer slide, however, can be as simple as reading more books. In a recent study, Professor Richard Allingtonof the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and his colleagues found that “giving kids 12 books to read over the summer was as effective as summer school in raising the students’ reading scores.

"6 Ways To Use Reading to Prevent the Summer Slide - NEA Today." NEA Today. N.p., 19 May 2015. Web. 04 May 2016.

Once educators and parents learn about this issue, most will do anything to avoid it.  I know as a reading specialists working intensely with each and every student for over 60 minutes a day 5 days a week on reading skills, the last thing I want to happen is for my students to take a ride down this slide.

This summer I am sending home all of my students a little packet to help inform their parents and provide families with a way to help avoid such a decrease.  You can grab the pages of the packet below and use them as they are or edit them to your liking.

Here are some photos of the pages for you to review.

I taped a Periscope about this topic for the I Teach TV Network.  You can find it at:

iteachtvnetwork scope replays

Here are my notes from that Periscope for your reference:)

I wish you and your students a wonderful and relaxing summer full of fun, adventure, and great books!

I will be blogging, Periscoping, and Facebook Live taping episodes of "I've Assessed...Now What?" every other Monday all summer!  Stay tuned for more tips and how to's on preparing for meeting ALL your students' literacy needs!

Until the next post... (another one about summer reading... virtual tutoring...)

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